This is so exciting, I know I'm late to the party but holy cow was it ever a treat to see that this awesome game is finished. I am definitely downloading this within the next few days and playing it over the weekend. I had the privilege of playing through the game in its alpha and pre-beta states, so I am super excited to see the story and finished levels! Awesome job Gridlock, I'm extremely proud of you and the rest of the team for finishing this!

Grimson wrote:
Aside from the dark level graphics and story, what touches me most is the music. It's pure gold. Every track matches its level perfectly, like how Cargo Transit A is a fast-paced track for a fun, fast-paced level, or how Crystal Shrine makes you feel calm, yet uneasy, as if something sinister was looming in the distance. I also like the way the central Atroxian/Krile theme is included and played with in almost every track, it shows how morphable and ambiguous (in a good sense) the theme really is. And don't even get me started on Sky Sanctum. When I listen to this track, my insides get filled with weird mixture of melancholism, joy, dread and determination. The music is so deep and the level is so dark, it's perfect. Just...whoa. I hope GameBird hasn't stopped making music, I'd love to hear more from him/her.]

Hey thanks man, that's awesome to hear and very encouraging! I had a great time writing the soundtrack, and really got to flex my musical muscle. Especially with weirder songs like Hornet Hive. It's so cool seeing an entire playlist of these songs on youtube. I haven't heard some of these in years! haha. The Cargo Transit song is actually one I'm very proud of. I wasn't expecting it to turn out as well as it did, I thought the echo-y effect would be too much for the poor IMF format so I was ecstatic when it worked. The Sky Sanctum was also a blast to write: it and the final boss song. I listened to so many final boss/levels songs for inspiration and really tried to create a dramatic, tense, yet energetic song for those areas that got you pumped up for the final confrontation.

I was very inspired by not only Metroid (my favorite game series) when composing, but also by Super Mario World and the way it got so much mileage out of 1 or 2 tunes; I really wanted to replicate that and have most of the songs hearken back to the main themes of the game and reinforce this cohesive world you were exploring. I'm glad you all enjoy the soundtrack so much. Sadly I haven't been able to write much music lately, although I did compose the soundtrack for a game I made in RPGMaker 2003 recently that's based on my personal life events (still deciding whether I should make it public or not haha, it is very personal, but I may sell it on steam after making some changes).

Although I love writing music, I've actually aimed my career at animation. for the last year and a half I've been working for Dreamworks on an animated series on Netflix called Dinotrux. Check it out, the first 45 seconds of this teaser is all my animation! and if you're interested, the first 3 minutes after the intro of episode 9 is all my work haha. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSGVQ1iUsX8

In any case, I'm so glad this is released! Can't wait to play! I'd actually be very interested in hearing what everyone's favorite song from the game is.
Also nice work on the extra and rearranged songs, Gridlock and Co! I like them a lot!

Edit: Was watching the playthrough and It's a small thing, but I really like the sound effect for the checkpoints haha.

Edit2: I remember Gridlock and I actually had quite a few conversations about some design elements for the game. I believe we both came up with the initial design for the Krile based on a sketch, and the idea to have a bunch of puzzles destroyed in the Ruins. I thought it was an awesome idea to have you get a gem and come to a locked door, but the gem's stand was destroyed, forcing you to find a different way past the door. Good times.

Gamebird, your music in this mod is utterly wonderful stuff, I mean genuinely it achieves an artistic standard far in excess of the majority of video game music ever produced including both early 90s platformers and present day XBOX blockbusters. Thus, it continues to affirm modding as a whole (and particularly Atroxian Realm) as a truly worthwhile endeavour which, unbeknownst to the general public, is a very valid part of current gaming and - by extension - popular culture. I'm fairly convinced the above isn't hyperbole. All I can really say is thank you. Being both a busy man and a poor keener, I have yet to play all levels and thus hear all the songs. All I can say is they are all wonderful and maybe I'll mention the map music which not only is by far the best map music yet heard in Keen, but truly adds to the 'what's coming up next' excitement of playing this game for the first time. We are one lucky community to have given rise to Atroxian Realm.

That reminds me, are those enemies met in the Sky Sanctum possessed or mutated/augmented Krile? After the Realm Reactor is destroyed, what happened to them?

I guess I never thought about this. These Krile were part of the mission to the Sky Sanctum mentioned in the story texts, and they got captured and controlled by the Atroxians. I think it's fair to say were freed at the end.

Some may disagree, but I want this Keen to be the official Keen 10: Atroxian Realm. The official successor to the unofficial TUIT made by Ceilick. Who's with me on this?

Eh, if you want to. I never really intended this to be an official Keen installment, more of an experimental side story. Trying to fit it in with a canon of other fangames seems a bit arbitrary. Plus, I'm not going to rule out the idea of returning for a sequel eventually.

This is so exciting, I know I'm late to the party but holy cow was it ever a treat to see that this awesome game is finished. I am definitely downloading this within the next few days and playing it over the weekend. I had the privilege of playing through the game in its alpha and pre-beta states, so I am super excited to see the story and finished levels! Awesome job Gridlock, I'm extremely proud of you and the rest of the team for finishing this!

Woo, I'm glad to hear from you! I'm glad to hear that things are still going well for you. I imagine that this mod will seem pretty different compared to what you saw a few years ago. I hope you enjoy it!

My perspective on the music is a bit different since I've heard most of these tracks loop several hundred times and spent many hours experimenting with the .imf quality. Even after all that, though, I still love listening to these tracks. I personally think that Great Ziggurat is the best composition in this whole soundtrack, as it just has so much energy and interesting instrumentation.

If I ever do decide to make sequel, I would certainly be honored to have your help again if you have the time. That probably won't happen soon, if ever, but it's something I'm keeping in the back of my mind. Maybe some time I'll start an ideation/preproduction thread just to toss around ideas. Regardless, I hope you keep composing, because your stuff is always a treat to listen to.

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I'm hoping to put together a few more releases for Keen Day or shortly after during my spring break when I'll actually have some time to breathe. First, the core soundtrack release will include all the midis I can find that were used in the game (though the versioning might make it tricky to track down all of them). I'll also include the .imfs, some alternate versions of tracks, and a few of the MP3s Gamebird made.

Gamebird, if you have any more MP3 versions of tracks laying around from a few years ago, it would be great to be able to include them. I'd love to hear more of these tracks in high quality.

Second, I'll try to roll out some bug fixes and other tweaks. I'm not sure about bugs relating to the code; those could take longer to fix.

Third, I would like release a conglomeration of development files; things like old art and design documents, an old build to show what the game was like a while ago, and other miscellaneous junk. Not that anyone cares, but I still want to put some of this stuff out there.

One question, why don't the guardian head things' shots destroy Atroxians? I see spiderbots calmly walking through fire that only ills ME. can't tell friend from foe? They kill the friends and leave the foe!

This is so exciting, I know I'm late to the party but holy cow was it ever a treat to see that this awesome game is finished. I am definitely downloading this within the next few days and playing it over the weekend. I had the privilege of playing through the game in its alpha and pre-beta states, so I am super excited to see the story and finished levels! Awesome job Gridlock, I'm extremely proud of you and the rest of the team for finishing this!

Woo, I'm glad to hear from you! I'm glad to hear that things are still going well for you. I imagine that this mod will seem pretty different compared to what you saw a few years ago. I hope you enjoy it!

My perspective on the music is a bit different since I've heard most of these tracks loop several hundred times and spent many hours experimenting with the .imf quality. Even after all that, though, I still love listening to these tracks. I personally think that Great Ziggurat is the best composition in this whole soundtrack, as it just has so much energy and interesting instrumentation.

If I ever do decide to make sequel, I would certainly be honored to have your help again if you have the time. That probably won't happen soon, if ever, but it's something I'm keeping in the back of my mind. Maybe some time I'll start an ideation/preproduction thread just to toss around ideas. Regardless, I hope you keep composing, because your stuff is always a treat to listen to.

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I'm hoping to put together a few more releases for Keen Day or shortly after during my spring break when I'll actually have some time to breathe. First, the core soundtrack release will include all the midis I can find that were used in the game (though the versioning might make it tricky to track down all of them). I'll also include the .imfs, some alternate versions of tracks, and a few of the MP3s Gamebird made.

Gamebird, if you have any more MP3 versions of tracks laying around from a few years ago, it would be great to be able to include them. I'd love to hear more of these tracks in high quality.

Second, I'll try to roll out some bug fixes and other tweaks. I'm not sure about bugs relating to the code; those could take longer to fix.

Third, I would like release a conglomeration of development files; things like old art and design documents, an old build to show what the game was like a while ago, and other miscellaneous junk. Not that anyone cares, but I still want to put some of this stuff out there.

That's fantastic to hear! Sorry, been a busy time for me. I haven't even had the chance to play the game yet and it looks like I won't for around a week yet, ugh haha. I would love to help out again on a future project, though sadly It probably won't be to the extent of Atroxian realm again, unless I find a huge amount of free time somehow. That said, It seems you guys found a few ways to remove some of the musical file restrictions, which is awesome and would for sure speed up the process.

I'd be happy to search through my files and dig up old MP3 versions of these songs! May take me a while to get the time but I'll for sure look into that!

two bugs in great ziggurat:
-you can walk into the first sand-pool-thingy in the yellow zone in great ziggurat and you will die after about 3 seconds
(i'll do a small video about that later)
-you can exit the level using a door bug
(https://youtu.be/29itrzDfzJ8)

another one in sky sanctum
you can get trapped in a secret area next to the shaft that leads to the three-up (i'll do a vid about that too)

Let's begin with a few stats. It's been 4 days since I've completed my playthrough of AR (on Hard). With the exception of The Catacombs, I've found the way to each 3UP item. I haven't found the way to what appears to be the secret level.

As a side-note, there is a bug where Keen may mistakenly die from a hazard in The Catacombs not far from the 3UP, which I've reported to lemm and Fleexy.

I'm not sure I have a lot to add which wasn't already said. I can only imagine how did it feel for Gridlock to finally have this out after more than 5 years of working on the mod, on-and-off. It's basically the kind of thing one can finally leave behind.

I did get to play the earlier demos of AR before, with a total of 3 levels (other than the BWB level from the final release). It's probably not a surprise I felt familiar in these ones (although maybe less in the 3rd which isn't present in the original demo). The most noticeable difference, of course, is the additional of the checkpoints.

These checkpoints can surely change game-play in various ways. Except for a few difficult spots (and a small amount of random experimentations), I didn't find the need to save games the usual way (as done in vanilla Keen 4-6).

Clearly, the 3 demo levels mentioned above are just a little part of AR, and in a retrospect, don't represent the most of it.

Crystallite Caverns surely felt refreshing to me. The music should not be ignored here, being a part of the experience. As already stated, this level, as well as a few later ones, clearly take advantage of transparency in new ways. What's a bit funny is, before I saw a random screenshot in the forums (and after completing all (non-secret?) crystal-themed levels), I didn't know that you can stun the Spliders, heh.

I then approached Brithom Bog, the last swamp-themed map (with dartfrogs). For some weird reason, compared to the first 3 maps (after the BWB), it already felt a bit "late" here. I get the thing with the music, which I guess that, well, sounds spooky here. That may be a part of the feeling of this taking time.

At least a few of you may know of another mod, being Commander Keen 8: Dead in the Desert, in which the levels are split into 3 different themes, and each of them has its own creatures/hazards not found anywhere else. This did feel a bit weird for at least some players, from what I recall. In contrast, this is clearly not the case in AR. The Atroxians, Axoclaws and a few more do make their appearances in various environments. For some reason, encountering an Axosis outside the crystal-themed levels (after visiting the latter) felt a bit weird to me, at least initially. Maybe this is just a sign of a progress of time.

I think that "The Catacombs" is a place where it has really felt like it's been a long journey, though. Again, there are enough familiar creatures, but still.

I should not forget the new platforming/puzzle tricks, exploiting features/limitations of the Keen 4-6 codebase to their advantages. The way certain switches are manipulated is such an example. In addition, Keen 3 may have its one-way walls, but what AR shows is clearly different.

Regarding the very last levels, including the boss fight: As usual, the music was fitting. What felt a bit weird to me (and in a good way), though, is that the boss fight music felt like it came from a non-Keen game. I'm not sure, but maybe it's some sense of evil which I've just hinted at.

Finally, it feels a bit weird to think that I even had any contribution to this mod. Yeah, I released the so-called "Keen Dreams - Unofficial Tech Demo", but I don't think I did a lot. I basically grabbed about half of the Catacomb 3-D sources (the ID Engine) with the other half of the Keen Dreams code (more-or-less the rest), and then made a few changes, in order to get a Keen Dreams game with an update of the ID Engine to a revision closer to what's found in Keen 4-6.

What should I say? If you have enough interest in Keen 4-6 (or possibly also some other game), this is clearly a mod that you should try out. Just be ready that it is (at least somewhat) long.

As stated above, I'm still not entirely done, since I haven't visited the secret level.

*Squeals in such a high pitch not actually possible due to actual voice being too deep* OH MUH GAWD IT'S HERE, IT'S FINALLY HERE!!! THANK YOU GRIDLOCK! THANK YOU LORD FOR LETTING ME LIVE TO THIS MOMENT!!!!!
Have just downloaded and been playing it, so far pretty good So happy this is finally here and I have it at long last!

I'm about half way through (I'm doing everything slowly these days). For everything I've seen so far, I got to say this is one excellent production. The level design is great, perhaps my favourite galaxy mod levels so far. Even though I'm stuck in two levels right now. (Can't seem to get far enough in either. But they're big factory levels so no wonder.) Extra points for the music, it really befits. There are so many great ideas in this mod. Big thanks for making it!

I finally found the time to play this mod. I liked it so much that I finished it within two days. The crature design is cool and the story is very interesting. Beside the excellent porgramming is the music the best part of the game.
I also like the depressing atmosphere and environment design. It often looks like a psychodelic drug trip. (A bit un-keenish but I love that).
The only downside of this game is the difficulty of some levels. I had to spoil or to cheat to manage them.